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The Oregon No.15 and Oregon State wrote a dramatic new chapter in their football rivalry on Friday night as the Beavers escaped with a 41-38 victory on a foggy night at the Reser Stadium on the Oregon State Campus. Quarterback Chance Nolan put the Beavers forward on a stealthy quarterback with 33 seconds left in the first shot of his career in Oregon State after coming in for injured starter Tristan Gebbia.
Oregon State held on and improved to 2-2 when Oregon’s No. 15 last-minute effort collapsed in the dying seconds. Oregon state players then took to the pitch to celebrate their first victory in the rivalry since 2016.
Oregon led 24-13 at halftime and 31-19 early in the fourth quarter, but had no response for the Beavers late as Gebbia and running back Jermar Jefferson propelled an attack that produced 28 points in the second half. Jefferson ran for a pair of touchdowns and his 226 rushing yards were the highest ever for a player in the series. In the end, the Ducks’ defense had no answer and made the college football playoff committee appear wise to rank Oregon so low in the PSC’s top ranking released earlier this week.
Some thought the Ducks were underrated at No. 15 in the first batch of the standings after starting 4-0 with three double-digit wins. But after Friday’s loss, whatever slim chance Oregon – and perhaps the entire Pac-12, for that matter – had to make the playoffs has been erased. This fact surely pleased Oregon State fans, who had seen their team drop 11 of their last 12 to Oregon in the evening.
Now let’s take a look at some takeaways from Oregon State’s shocking victory over Oregon on Friday.
College football playoff dreams crushed
The Ducks were already a long way off for the CFP with a pair of two-losing Big 12 teams – Oklahoma (No.11) and Iowa State (No.13) – coming ahead of them this week. So even to have an outside chance of making the playoffs at the end, Oregon probably should have won their last four games convincingly. Even if the Ducks had pulled out of Friday night’s game, it would have been an uninspiring win that likely wouldn’t move them significantly up the standings.
USC was the only other Pac-12 team included in the CFP rankings on Tuesday, and the No.18 Trojans saw their game with Colorado called off this week due to virus issues within their schedule. So in essence, Oregon’s loss on Friday simply confirmed that Pac-12 won’t have a representative at this year’s college football playoffs.
Oregon’s defensive woes
The Ducks haven’t been good at defending the race this season and have struggled to tackle at times. These issues were exposed to a grueling degree on Friday as Jefferson torched the Ducks for a huge game. The 5-foot-10 junior run averaged just 3.0 yards per carry on 21 attempts against Oregon in 2018 and averaged 4.1 yards per carry on 20 attempts against the Ducks last year.
But on Friday, he exploded for 7.8 yards per carry, an average that was largely supported by an 82-yard touchdown in the first quarter that set the tone for the game.
Marquee victory for Jonathan Smith
Oregon State third-year coach Jonathan Smith helped the Beavers go from one win the season to two wins in 2018 in his first season before the program took a step back. significant forward in a 5-7 campaign last season that included four conference wins. Now, the former Washington offensive coordinator has a trademark victory on his head coach resume. The Beavers have won back-to-back wins after a 0-2 start and have a chance to finish .500 or better for the first time since 2013.
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